Brady Quinn & LaVar Arrington Agree That JJ McCarthy Injury May Be a Blessing in Disguise

you know we were uh waiting to see all right what was it going to be a little bit of a surgery and JJ McCarthy would miss you know after a trim a few weeks or would it be a full repair and he'd be done for the whole season we got our news yesterday JJ McCarthy out for the entire season Full Repair of his torn meniscus that he suffered in the preseason game against the Raiders over the weekend and so Kevin oconnell the head coach of the Vikings spoke about it after the news came out everyone should just be you know excited about the fact that we've got our young franchise quarterback I believe in the building and and now it's about uh the unique uh aspect of continuing a very critical development process for him where maybe the the physical reps aren't going to be there in the short term but this is going to be a bump Small Bump in the road other quarterbacks in our league have gone through similar things early on in their journey and and and came back stronger and better than ever and that is not only my expectation I know that is going to happen um for JJ so we'll have a great plan for him uh you know not only in the quarterback room with those other guys but a process so him and I can continue to build our Rapport and and make sure there's a day-to-day uh football process but early on most importantly it's going to be about that rehab and the physical aspect Sam darnold step right up that's right baby yep um Lavar have you ever had a Tor meniscus or Jonas have you that's that's been that was the Achilles Hill my my my career I did the Tor miniscus was yeah like really it led it it eventually led to me tearing my ACL like I I was pretty explosive and for the amount of pressure and force I would appli to my legs and and the things that I would do I had to get multiple like multiples of meniscus cleans cleanups you tore your ACL no my my achilles oh you said ACL did I say ACL my achilles tended not my ACL um but it led to to my achilles tant because I was off balance by the time I got to the that point in my career I had had so many cleanings of my my Meniscus that you know just it just led to to other things you know getting in the way so you've torn your meniscus yes Brady have you torn your meniscus no um I have damn I to say you really yeah yeah dislocated my kneecap the dislocation was how you dislocate your kneecap yeah you told this story before playing uh basketball had a few too many uh throat burners uh some old Styles out of a cooler and Monmouth Illinois playing with my playing drunk basketball yeah yep that's uh it was you know we we had played cornhole for about an hour and a half and I was uh teaming up with my girlfriend against my brother and my cousin she was uh she she was horrendous teaming up she was horrendous so you had to pick up the load she was horrendous I threw a bad pass I did everything then I came down popped my kneecap but I tore my Meniscus and had a bone bruise the kneecap the kneecap was was popped back in and that wasn't really the issue it was the meniscus and the bone bruise that was always the lingering problem so I did not have that on my bingo card that you tore your biscus playing drunk basketball after a game of cornhole teamed up with your girlfriend is that that common what do you mean drunk basketball drunk basketball it's Monmouth you know there's not a lot going on yeah I just I don't suspect people are like having a few beers like you know what let's go play a pickup game of basketball did you make any noises when when it like that sounds like one of them injuries where where either you just go into shock and you say nothing or so or or you let out or you let it scream out Jonas it sounded a little bit something like uh no no it did not I I I remember exactly what it sounded like I told my brother when I I reached down to my leg and I felt my knee cap on the side and I'm like I just felt this Canyon on my knee and I told my brother I was like hey Adam I'm done I pop my knee pop my knee Adam I'm done I'm done he goes stop being a you know what uh you know fill in the blank there uh rym did it end with a y yes it did okay stop you know get up man let's finish the game stop you need a wuss yeah something like that uh insert the p and uh and I said no no I'm I'm I'm really done he he lifts he lifts up my pant leg and goes oh God God like all right yeah we're going to have to do something here and uh yeah they had uh you know my my cousin was uh luckily uh like a a paramedic or an EMT or whatever you want to say it is and uh popped it back in we put some uh she had like some makeshift Ace bandages we put on it and then you know drove to the hospital how sober were you in that moment not at all not at all really I was I usually something like that happens you sober up quick um yes later uh CU we did end up going for some reason we thought it was a good idea to go some hole-in-the-wall bar afterwards because people were hungry I was like no I'll think I'll be fine you know once she popped it in it felt okay but my leg was just shaking the whole time like I had no stability like no nothing you were walking yeah were you limping yeah which does make JJ McCarthy's performance the preseason game that much more impressive hell yes he's damn hockey player don't even know about the injury until afterwards yeah yeah coach I tore my miniscus there he you know he uh hey coach hey KN a little wonky coach yeah coach I got to go check out the trainer coach I think something's going on here um this actually might be a blessing in disguise for JJ man same words that's it but I I'm glad you said it go ahead I'm going play well I I think you look at a lot of the quarterbacks who of late have excelled who were first round picks they got to sit there you go they got to sit watch learn you know they they got to they got to kind of and you heard Kevin oconnell talk about how he's going to be able to go through a process now mentally and so the mental side of things as far as knowing the offense you know knowing how teams are you know the Personnel how they're preparing all those things he's going to have that down it's now just going to be the physical and I think the physical is going to be just fine you know this isn't a meniscus it's tough you know as as you pointed out Lavar there'll probably be some cleanups down the road but he's not the same type of athlete that you so maybe it's not going to be quite as much you know I don't know his medical history I I I just know that he'll come back from this 100% healthy for 2025 and I think he'll be better off for it as well I think that's I mean you hate to say a season ending injury is a blessing in disguise but it certainly takes the pressure off of him in terms of that first year that first year performance can he beat out Sam darnold how is he playing once he gets in all of the judgments that take place he's learning on the Fly and now with with the the benefit of being able to actually um learn get into the to the Playbook understand what the coaches are looking for understand what the schedule feels like cuz he you're you're relatively like a ghost when when you're not an active player and and when I what I mean by that is if you're not up it's kind of like you know hey how you doing okay good like you don't really have it's not really like you're a part of everything because well you're hurt so he gets an opportunity to be a fly on the wall sit in and on the meetings he should be really really investing in the mental aspect of what it's going to take for him to be a successful uh a successful Pro and when you have those opportunities even to be on the sideline be in the ingame in-game situations where you're listening to what the offensive coordinator is saying what what the what the head coach is saying what what's going on over the headsets you know what are the adjustments what what are they talking about when the offense comes off of off of the field all those moments in time if he's taking the mental reps and he taking this seriously and he's present and he's focused and dowed in on learning all of those things by the time he gets back which I mean we were talking about an old ass Aaron roders coming back from uh an Achilles tier which I obviously is probably a much more it's a much more uh I guess it's a worse more injury a bigger surgery than than a meniscus repair he he'll probably be ready to go probably halfway through the season and if he's ready to go halfway through the season and he's deactivated for the entire season then he's going to start to get real physical reps to go along with the mental reps that he's taking while he's he's rehabbing himself back to health so there are there are some ways to take true advantage of the fact that you're not active for this this rookie year so it make the best do you find that odd that they basically called it a season ending injury I do I've never heard of a meniscus being a season ending injury I've heard of it being at the most probably like six weeks like six weeks six to eight weeks but I will say this it's a tricky injury because again that's kind of what derailed my career I was rushed back from a meniscus tier and I came out on the practice field and slipped and basically reinjured it like redid it and so it's it definitely there is something to be said about allowing it the proper time to heal uh getting the proper time to to stretch it and to strengthen your leg so that it feels like it's brand new because otherwise the there are the there is the the I guess the possibilities of continuing to wear it down and then now you're starting to get into the conversations of like micr fractures and different things like that holes you know bone on bone like just wear and tear of once that meniscus is injured and and it's not it's not a healthy meniscus there's just a lot of little things that could turn into big things as time wears on so if they made the decision to call his season when they did they made the decision to move on from Kurt Cousins to move on from you're calling him Kurt every time you say his name you sound like Jay guden when you say really yeah I don't know why you don't like emphasize the K Kirk I've I'm guilty of that too cousin KK cousin like you don't you don't finish the end of his name I left the the SE of his last name roll into each other almost Kurt Cousins it's almost like one one name is that like a Pennsylvania thing V I don't know I think you're wearing off on Jonas maybe KK cous isn't isn't Jay Gruden from Pennsylvania I don't know I know John guden is right is he no wait John's Ohio am I saying yeah yeah you know the real football I generally know where you know big time people are from Pittsburgh or PA yeah yeah I didn't we didn't claim the grudin you didn't mm no they don't claim um how many wins are the Vikings going to claim this year because it feels like actually that's what I was going to say was the other part of it being a blessing in disguise they could get another top traffic I was going to say like so this year is kind of a we we've punted you know so we're punting on S oh wow on Sam I'm not punting on them you won't hear that many times this season in minnes I'm I'm not punting on them but they will have a chance to get one of the top players in next year's draft and maybe some more draft capital I mean think about how this year worked out they got JJ they obviously got what Dallas Turner too they basically replace what they lost in free agency now they could get another guy too to help out I mean now the ownership and everyone else involved would have to be patient understanding what's what's happening but I I think there's a chance they could come out on the other side of this with a better roster when it's all said and done I think they can be competitive this year I really do I think outside and I I made this point yesterday outside of the Detroit Lions there's still question marks that surround the NFC North I'm sorry we we can say all we want to say about Caleb being a a a Phenom and he is but I don't know what that looks like in a regular season I know Jordan love just got paid and had a a tremendous end of his season last year that campaign went really well not sure what what Green Bay Packers will do so if I'm Minnesota I'm not punting on this season there's there's the opportunity there's the chance that they can be competitive within the NFC North I do I believe that and I believe Sam Darnell is a good enough quarterback where again I think it would have been hard for a young JJ McCarthy to beat him out and and so now that pressure is off of JJ McCarthy and that pressure is off of Sam Darnell and there could be that that could be the second blessing in disguise that Sam Darnell isn't looking over his shoulder in terms of feeling like I I'm I'm one bad pass away from them putting in JJ it's like as a backup quarterback I'm so excited for Sam darnold like that part of me that like you always wish you would have had an opportunity to play for a team with a play caller like Kevin oconnell a a star receiver maybe the best in the NFL and Justin Jefferson like all the other pieces they have like to your point like I'm I'm excited to see what he's going to be able to do because this is I mean San Francisco would have been the best situation he was in last year but he wasn't going into it with really a shot of playing it was like all right if Brock gets hurt maybe he goes in that was kind of it now this is legitimately his team for this year and we'll see how things go but he's going to have every opportunity to showcase what he's capable of and make up for whatever stigma or whatever narrative is attached to his name so that part of me is excited and I don't disagree like I think you know they'll be able to be competitive for some of those reasons but if they're not I I still think they're they're okay on the other side I just think this teams had a bad run of luck I mean they had Teddy Bridgewater go down right before the season which my mind you I think that led to Sam Bradford which ended up leading to Case Keenum yeah that season which obviously went to an NFC Championship game so like that's like the one thing I'd say if you're a Minnesota Vikings fan I don't know that you give up hope because you've seen this story before kind of but they did have Jordan Addison go down they had another wide receiver go down yesterday like it's this team has just been snake bitten a bit by injuries well we're going to get to uh see Sam darnold sling it on a one-year deal maybe be the next gos Smith or Baker Mayfield and go out and uh prove yourself and get a big time deal elsewhere so could be uh could be fun to watch